They chose not to.

Further debate?

I’m pleased to rise today to debate Bill 190, the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024, alongside the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. I want to acknowledge the leadership of the minister and the entire team at the ministry, who are working to support workers in our province. I see, every day, the minister’s passion to make things better for the workers of the province of Ontario and I applaud his work with the measures contained in this bill.

I’d also like to thank the Premier for his leadership and support of our government’s actions and trail-blazing legislation for Ontario workers. He truly leads by example, working for workers to make sure we keep the Ontario dream within reach of more people.

Thank you also to the members of caucus and workers who have advocated and consulted on the changes in this bill. As a professional and also as a woman, I am proud of the proposals we are making to the Working for Workers Five Act to further support women at work.

Canadian research, as recent as 2022, has shown that women are more likely to be subjected to workplace harassment, including online harassment, than other workers. People who face multiple intersectionalities such as gender, race or disability are also very likely to be harassed. This includes online harassment. As many workers now work from home all or part of the time, virtual harassment is something we increasingly need to ensure we are protecting workers from.

We need to recognize that, with the change in our technologies, our legislation has to change as well. That is why, as part of this bill, we are proposing to modernize the Occupational Health and Safety Act to include virtual harassment. We’re acting to reflect the realities of modern work in our legislation and to better protect workers no matter where they perform their work.

To complement this proposal, our ministry is also planning consultations on more potential changes to prevent and address complaints and incidents of workplace harassment. Harassment is unacceptable. It makes going to work very difficult. Whether it’s online or face-to-face, our government’s message is simple: It has to stop. And we are working to ensure that it does.

While addressing virtual harassment is an incredibly important change for all workers, especially women, I’d also like to talk about some other important changes our ministry is proposing to specifically support women in the trades, particularly in construction.

We have seen an increase in women working on construction projects, and we’ve heard their requests to make their workplaces more inclusive. In fact, a 2022 survey of Ontario tradeswomen in construction cited better washroom facilities as one of the things missing to make this type of work more appealing to women. Some of us in here can relate to that. To help, we are proposing a change to the construction regulation to require constructors to provide menstrual products on many construction sites. Those construction sites affected would be those with 20 or more workers and expected to last three months or longer—sites where it would be feasible to have a reasonably private place to access menstrual products.

While only 13% of workers in Ontario’s construction industry are women, we want to increase this number. Changes to ensure that their needs are met on the job site will help.

To bring better washrooms to all workers as part of our Working for Workers package, we’re proposing new requirements under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for washrooms provided for workers. While in construction it’s already a requirement for washrooms to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition, we’re now proposing to roll it out to similar workplaces all across Ontario. And to ensure that this is a regular practice, constructors and employers will be required to maintain an up-to-date cleaning log for each washroom, to be prescribed by regulation in the future. This will allow workers to see when the washrooms were last cleaned and to keep the people in charge accountable.

Washrooms need to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition, not just for workers’ health, but for their dignity as well. No worker should be confronted with a dirty washroom while they’re at work, where you have to make the choice to either stay on site or go off-site to use the washroom. It should be that way for every workplace.

These hard-working people are showing up day in and day out to do their jobs, and we all need constructors and employers to do their part.

To further protect workers, we will also consult on expanding the types of equipment to be provided on construction sites. Equipment like defibrillators—something that can make the difference between life and death in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest—is important on the job site. This is in addition to a comprehensive review of traumatic fatalities in the construction sector.

We have heard some of the sad stories of workers that have gone to work and have not come home, and so we’re charging the Ontario Chief Prevention Officer, Dr. Joel Moody, to do a comprehensive consultation, as well as incorporating asbestos-related data into the ministry’s forthcoming Occupational Exposure Registry to improve our efforts to prevent future asbestos-related illnesses.

Earlier, the Minister of Health made this announcement: To better protect workers, increase fairness and, importantly, reduce unnecessary burden on health care providers, we’re proposing a change to the Employment Standards Act to prohibit employers from requiring sick notes for the three unpaid sick days employees are entitled to under the act. This change to put patients before paperwork would, if passed, help people avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office when sick. This means fairness for employees who can better recuperate at home. It means better safety for health care workers who would now see less exposure to people with communicable diseases looking to complete paperwork, and for patients in waiting rooms. It would mean many hours saved for primary care providers, which we have heard from the Ontario Medical Association.

Family doctors spend approximately 19 hours per week on administrative tasks, including four hours of that writing notes or completing forms for patients. Let’s get those paperwork hours back for them to, instead, spend those taking care of patients.

I want to emphasize that employers would still have tools available to maintain staff accountability around sick days off, such as requiring attestations or asking for pharmacy receipts, depending on the circumstances. This is about reducing unnecessary burden on our health care system while continuing to support both workers and employers. And it complements other actions by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board efforts to collaborate with health sector organizations as they explore additional measures to reduce administrative burdens for sick or injured workers and health care professionals.

Speaker, we continue to do more. I would like to talk about workplace fairness—the minister mentioned this earlier. We want to send a message that employers who break the rules and exploit or endanger workers will face the consequences. That is why we are proposing changes to the Employment Standards Act that would, if passed, double the maximum fine for individuals convicted of violating the act from $50,000 to $100,000. This would make Ontario’s maximum fine for individuals the highest in the country and send a message to unscrupulous employers that it’s unacceptable.

We’re also increasing the penalty that an employment standards officer can issue for certain repeat offenders by five times. It’s a change from $1,000 per penalty to $5,000. That is less than the price of an iPhone to a more substantive penalty, especially when it’s multiplied by each employee affected. And it would be available for officers to issue on third or subsequent contraventions of the same provision.

These changes are designed to make bad actors think twice before they violate the act, and to give the courts and our officers more leverage to appropriately penalize those that do, levelling the playing field for Ontario’s majority of responsible employers.

So to recap, all of these changes have one goal in mind: putting workers first, because an economy that doesn’t work for workers, does not work at all. Through our Working for Workers packages we have been, and plan to continue, making common-sense changes that put workers in the driver’s seat.

The themes that the minister and I have spoken about today are not new. In fact, this government has shown its support for workers in several of its Working for Workers packages. For example, in 2022, we stood up for members of the Canadian Armed Forces by expanding military reservist leave to cover time spent in Canadian Forces military skills training and reduce the amount of time military personnel need to hold a job before they can take the leave. We reduced that from six months to three months. And again, in 2023, we improved military reservist leave yet again, expanding reasons for the leave and further reducing the time reservists need to be employed before taking leave.

The firefighter presumptive coverage improvements outlined today also build on improvements in 2023 when we expanded presumptive occupational cancer coverage for firefighters and fire investigators to include thyroid and pancreatic cancers, as well as further improvements this year when we reduced the time firefighters and fire investigators need to have been employed prior to diagnosis to receive presumptive coverage for esophageal cancer, from 25 years to 15 years. That is substantial.

We have been protecting the safety and dignity of workers from the very beginning of the Working for Workers series. Legislation passed by this House in 2021 gave delivery workers the basic human dignity of access to a restroom at businesses they are serving. And in 2023, we improved washrooms for construction workers by mandating clean, well lit and properly enclosed washrooms on all construction sites, and improved job sites for women by requiring women-specific washrooms on larger sites, as well as properly fitting personal protective equipment and clothing be available for workers of all body types, making construction work safer and more inclusive. We know that when women are on site with ill-fitted protective gear, it puts them at risk.

And to demonstrate our seriousness about safety and bad actors, in 2022 we increased the maximum fine for corporations convicted of Occupational Health and Safety Act violations to $2 million, emphasizing our dedication to putting worker safety above all else.

We have also been proactive around the opioid epidemic’s effect on workplace safety, mandating that certain at-risk workplaces have life-saving naloxone kits on site, and workers must be trained on how to use them. This was passed in 2022.

Fairness for employees and job seekers has been an ongoing theme for this government’s improvements since 2021. To protect vulnerable workers, we introduced mandatory licensing for recruiters and temporary help agencies, and followed up last year with changes that, once proclaimed, will require employers to disclose the expected compensation or rate of compensation in publicly advertised job postings to ensure job seekers have clear information about the pay they can expect before they decide to apply. There’s nothing like going through the entire process and finding out that what you’re getting paid wasn’t even worth the time.

We also ensured fairness for hospitality and services sector staff by clarifying and introducing some important employment standards. These include:

—clarifying employers cannot deduct wages when customers dine and dash, gas and dash, or otherwise leave without paying. Those workers should not be penalized;

—clarifying that employees must be paid for trial shifts;

—requiring employers to disclose if they have a policy of sharing worker tips and post it in the workplace; and

—requiring employers who pay tips using direct deposit to allow their employees to select which account they want them to be deposited.

This continues, Speaker: To ensure fairness for Ontario workers, it’s important to keep our laws current to new technology and applicable to real life. That’s another thing we’ve been doing through Working for Workers. Technology in the workplace has transformed how we operate, communicate and innovate. We addressed this in 2021 by introducing a requirement for larger employers to have a written policy on disconnecting from work to safeguard people’s personal and private time in an era where work can easily follow you home. And we followed up in 2022 to protect privacy with a requirement for large employers to disclose how they’re monitoring their employees electronically, as well as a change to the Employment Standards Act to ensure that employees who work solely remotely are counted for when mass termination provisions happen, and that they receive the same protections as their in-office counterparts—because they are, after all, employees.

This government has also been working to get people into jobs through Working for Workers packages to ensure red tape and unfair practices don’t stand in the way of newcomers who aspire to contribute to our communities. It is unfair that people come with a dream and have those dreams dashed because they encounter challenges around their experiences and their job that they bring to Canada. In our last package, we made changes that, once proclaimed, will prohibit all provincially regulated employers from including a requirement for Canadian experience in job postings or application forms. This was a natural extension of our 2021 prohibition on Canadian experience as a requirement for registration in the more than 30 regulated professions and compulsory trades.

We are helping put newcomers on a path to success by enabling them to start careers in Ontario that match their skill sets, including skills that we need in sectors like health care and the skilled trades. This is why we have also been addressing barriers internationally trained individuals may face when having their qualifications assessed, such as changes to improve transparency and accountability for the assessment of qualifications by the regulated professions and third parties.

Speaker, as you can see, this package extends the groundbreaking supports and improvements already helping millions of workers across the province by protecting the health and dignity of workers and front-line heroes, ensuring fairness for employees and job seekers, supporting women at work, removing barriers to employment and making it easier for more Ontarians to start a career in the trades. We are using every tool in our tool box to work harder for workers each and every day, to not only to protect workers but to also keep and attract more workers in the province to ensure our economy remains strong. As I said, the themes aren’t new. We are building on the past bills we have introduced under the leadership of the Premier, and we will always keep working to support and protect workers.

I call on all members of this House to join me in supporting Bill 190, the Working for Workers Five Act, 2024. Thank you, Speaker, for the opportunity.

Thank you to the member for that question. The government has taken a number of big steps here, again, putting patients over paperwork. I would also highlight to that member important work we’ve done—it’s posted for consultation now, and I hope she provides feedback—on leave provided for those battling critical illnesses and leave for those caring for those battling critical illness. Again, work that this government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, has done.

I’ve got to say, these are breaking down barriers, providing people with the stability to care for their loved ones. But also, this bill speaks to so many things we’re doing to break down barriers for people to get into the workforce.

I appreciate what that member is calling for, but we’ve included strong measures in this bill, and I’m very proud of it.

Again, technical trades in high school, the new FAST program to get on-the-job experience, the job-matching portal for people like Fred who don’t have the time, have a massive HR department to bring people on—a simple portal making it easier to match apprentices with employers to get the hours towards their C of Q are just some of the many measures we’re taking.

First off, Speaker, this government introduced a regulation to crack down on temporary help agencies to require a licensing regime again. You’ll recall this did exist in Ontario decades ago—bringing back a licensing regime, imposing some of the toughest fines on bad actors, those who withhold passports.

I would also point her to the federal government who are now shortening the ability for work permits, I believe, from 12 to six months. We’re asking for a carve-out in health care, in the health space, and then we’re also including measures here through FARPACTA legislation to fast-track people into employment where there’s credentials and hiccups and issues there, because you have to streamline that process to have a future of permanency here.

There’s so much. I wish I could include it all in—but a good question there, and we are working with the feds to crack down on bad actors.

Under the leadership of this Premier and that member who has been a fantastic advocate for Windsor, we’re going to keep getting people into the trades because when you’ve got a job in the trades, you’ve got a career for life.

I will say at a very high level—

Interjection.

We recognize that a lot more needs to be done with the WSIB. We’ve embarked on an ambitious reform. I think, at its core, what I will say is a culture where we have to get people better and where we want to support those getting back to work, but also providing dignity for those who will be unable to do so. And that’s why we’re expanding supports for injured workers through WSIB, and we look forward to sitting down with that member offline to talk about concerns he’s brought forward.

I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to rise.

The government continues to put forward Working for Workers bills. However, my bill to end deeming in the province of Ontario—we have put forward legislation and multiple amendments in committee to have this practice stopped, and the government has consistently voted against it, voted it down over and over again. And this minister knows that deeming by the WSIB forces workers into poverty—into ghost jobs, by the way.

Why is the government supporting such a cruel policy that harms injured workers, their families and our communities?

I welcomed the announcement with a great deal of excitement when I read that a person or a student would be able to spend 80% of their time in training and 20% in academics. I thought that was a great advancement, very important for the province of Ontario and very exciting for students who are interested in entering the trades.

But not everybody greeted this news with excitement. For example, there was this person named Cheri DiNovo—I didn’t know who she was. She said, “Who needs to learn history, science and reading when you can stay uneducated”—that’s what she said. She said, “You can stay uneducated by spending 80% of your time training for the trades.” Now, that shocked me. I don’t think somebody should be saying that you stay uneducated when you spend 80% of your time training for a trade. That took me totally by surprise.

I didn’t know who this person was. I learned later on. I just want to ask the minister, is he aware of who this person is and why she hates the trades so much?

Through you, Speaker: The minister talked about the importance of skilled trades and it literally being the backbone of the community. I know that’s the case in my riding of Thornhill.

He also talked very passionately about Fred the electrician and also the silver wave that’s upon us. Can he talk a little bit about how we’re leading the youth into the skilled trades?

My question is actually to the minister. Certainly, he will recall during COVID when the government brought in the infectious disease emergency leave, and that gave 10 days of leave. Two days of those were to be paid, and it also eliminated sick notes. So while we are pleased to see the long-overdue elimination of sick notes in the bill, we do not see any change to the 10 days of personal emergency leave, we don’t see any requirement for paid sick days. Even in the COVID bill, it had two paid sick days. We’ve been advocating for 10 paid sick days, which is what they have at the federal level.

Can the minister let us know why they took the elimination of sick notes but did not put in a requirement for paid sick days?

It is now time for questions.

During private members’ public business this evening, I will be moving my motion regarding artificial intelligence use in government.

Speaker, we are a government that is building a better Ontario, which includes building a better, more productive, positive customer service transformation for Ontarians.

Today, there is no legislation governing the safe and responsible use of AI in any provincial or territorial jurisdiction in Canada, nor within the federal government itself.

As a government, we need to ensure a secure digital future. To do this, we need to fine-tune our own data and also build our foundational model. With this, we can harness the power of AI within government, while building the necessary guardrails to protect our data.

I would like to recognize and thank the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery for all the work performed to date, from consultations to the formation of an AI working group, to the publication of Ontario’s trustworthy AI framework.

The purpose of this motion is to move the government forward with the next critical steps to adopt methods to assess potential risks, to judge the successful adoption and ethical use of AI, all the while developing measures to counter emerging cyber security threats.

I look forward to this evening’s public business debate.

It is now time for further debate.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

I rise to celebrate the Niagara Folk Arts Festival, Canada’s longest continuous heritage festival, now marking its 56th year. My community is so proud of the Niagara Folk Arts Festival. Each year, I look forward to the open houses, to the cultural attire, to the conversations.

Last year, I met a family who shared their journey as refugees, reminding me of my own history we share. There is nothing more Canadian than that.

Speaker, my grandmother was a quilter. Each year, she would begin a new quilt—it didn’t matter the size or the colour of the cloth, because when woven together, when brought together, it made one complete, harmonious whole. I treasure these quilts. They remind me of the folk arts festival. It’s a vivid reminder of the uniqueness, the inclusivity of every culture in Niagara.

No matter the debate or the division in this chamber, we should be aspiring to reflect the inclusive spirit that thrives in our own communities. It is our duty to stand for inclusion, for diversity and for making sure there are spaces for both.

I encourage all members to come to Niagara and celebrate the many vibrant communities with us. We welcome you to visit one of the many open houses that will be—for the next 15 days. Come travel the world with the Niagara Folk Arts Festival.

Speaker, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to wear purple ribbons in recognition of May 10 being Lupus Awareness Day.

Today is the 30th anniversary of the creation of International Thalassemia Day on May 8, 1994. Three years ago, I was proud to co-sponsor a private member’s bill with my friend from Barrie–Innisfil to proclaim May 8 as Thalassemia Awareness Day each year here in Ontario, on behalf of people like Mary Alfano, a mother of twins living with thalassemia in my community of Mississauga–Lakeshore. This is a day to help raise awareness of one of the most common blood disorders in the world, the genes for which are carried by up to 2% of the world’s population.

Much like sickle-cell anemia, patients with thalassemia can’t produce normal red blood cells, so they need regular blood transfusions to supply enough oxygen to the heart, brain, lungs and other organs. This is sometimes called Mediterranean anemia because it most often affects people from the Middle East, North Africa, Greece and Italy—especially the regions of Sardinia, Sicily and Calabria.

Just like patients with sickle-cell disease, thalassemia patients have had to deal with stigma and discrimination. I want to thank the Thalassemia Foundation of Canada for everything they do to advocate for thalassemia patients and to support scientific research into new treatments. I ask all members here to join us to raise awareness for thalassemia and to support the foundation’s work to ensure that all patients can live a long and healthy life.

I’m going to be brief because I know we’ll be going to members’ statements soon.

I want to talk about one of the themes, and I’ll expand on more of this when we get into the debate later on. But one of the themes of this bill is about changing things to electronic documents, and I have concerns with this. I understand the ease of use and how effective it is. I understand in some workplaces how helpful that will be. But the concern I have with electronic documents is that a lot of workplaces don’t have access. And I know people will say everyone has a phone or everyone has a computer, but the reality is, not everyone has a phone and not everyone has a computer. A lot of workplaces don’t have connectivity. I come from mining and the underground, and a lot of mining organizations don’t have connectivity underground.

There’s a requirement to have paper documents because it’s the easiest way to communicate with people, especially older workers. I don’t want to be ageist, because I’m old, but there are older people. We’ve all been in a situation helping our parents hook up the VCR in the old days or helping our parents get on the Internet. There are just some people who are not comfortable with electronic documents, and when it comes to health and safety, if we’re not sharing information as easily as we can, there’s an expression when it comes to health and safety that you learn because something tragic happened to you or someone told you about something happening to you.

So if you’re making it difficult for workers to have access to information—for example, of who their joint health and safety committee is and who the members are and where they are in the workplace—a lot of workplaces are small and everybody would know, but at my workplace, when I was a worker safety rep, I represented the filter plant and the furnaces, I represented the converters and casting and cooling and crushing and I represented the copper end. It was the size of about two or maybe two and a half football fields: more than 400 workers, plus contractors, plus management. There were a lot of people there who might not know who I was or where to find my office, let alone the other people on my committee from management and the workers’ side. And we had a really good committee; we worked really well together to solve these issues, but not every workplace is like that. And so, Speaker, when I talk about information being posted online, it may make sense to a lot of people, but for some people, that’s going to be a detriment.

A few weeks ago, we just talked about intimate partner violence, and we know it’s a concern. The Conservatives, as well—I know, often, as critics, we end up pointing the finger and yelling, but the Conservatives as well embraced the idea of intimate partner violence and declaring an epidemic. If you don’t have a harassment policy posted in the workplace, some people may not see that. And although it’s common sense to us in this room that you shouldn’t behave in that manner, there are some people who don’t realize that or what to do or how to make a complaint.

All that information is on your harassment document, your policy, and the policy points to the procedures which should be easily accessible to people so they can find out how it’s followed up on. What do you do when there’s harassment in the workplace? Who do you contact? How do you move it forward? How do you have it addressed? And I’m not talking about how you have it addressed in the most extreme examples, it’s how you have it addressed in terms of correcting behaviour, to explain to people that certain things are unwanted? Because I know sometimes people are doing things that are considered harassment or offensive and not realizing that their language is outdated and inadequate. These are things that really concern me in this bill.

The minister is here and, often, when we debate, we’re not able to speak at the same time, and so I want to say, there’s some really great parts to this bill, like the occupational disease section for wildland firefighters. I was just at FONOM yesterday speaking with the wildland firefighters. They knew, Minister. Already when I came up to them, they were very excited about it; they knew that the bill was coming forward. And I know that this is something we’ve all, as—

Vision is vital, offering direction, purpose and motivation, driving action toward fulfillment and growth. In contrast, recent data shows a staggering 2.1 million Canadians are grappling with blindness or partial sight, while over 5.6 million contest with vision-threatening conditions.

In Ontario, only 65% of children receive an eye examination before their seventh birthday, and only 2% adhere to the recommendation for age-appropriate eye assessments, including many residents from Mississauga–Malton. This could lead to undetected vision problems, hindering children’s academic performance, social interactions and overall quality of life.

Thanks to former senator Dr. Asha Seth, due to her efforts, May is national Vision Health Month and aims to increase the awareness of the importance of eye health and methods to prevent vision impairment.

My sincere gratitude to the CNIB for their continued work on supporting the education and awareness on vision-related needs in Canada. They’re here today, so I urge all MPPs to join them in room 228 between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to delve deeper and explore actionable solutions to support our Ontarians.

Speaker, together let’s strive towards a prosperous Ontario. This is a non-partisan issue. We have the same goal: to serve the people of Ontario, where everyone receives the necessary support and service to flourish.

Earlier this week, Jews in Ontario and throughout the world observed Yom ha-Shoah, the day of commemoration for the six million Jews who were murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Holocaust.

Known in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom ha-Shoah also commemorates the members of the Jewish resistance who fought against the Nazis during the Holocaust. Yom ha-Shoah reminds us that the Holocaust is both a lesson from the past and a warning for the future. It shows us the perils of indifference and the horrific consequences when hatred is allowed to flourish unchecked.

On October 7, to quote Rex Murphy, “a cowardly, medieval murder cult (campus heroes), Hamas took the lives of over 1,200 Jews” and others in Israel. Since then, we’re facing an anti-Semitic increase in events beyond acceptable levels here even in Canada, because really the only acceptable level is zero.

Anti-Semitic incidents take many forms—hate speech, vandalism and intimidation—but they are all manifestations of a broader attack on the fundamental idea that all Ontarians should be treated equally with respect and feel safe to live their lives freely in Ontario.

The mass murder of the Holocaust lasted from 1941 to 1945, but it is important to remember that it started long before then, almost a decade before, in 1932. The best way to stop anti-Semitism is to ensure it never starts. As human beings, we all share a duty to all other human beings to treat them with dignity and respect, because they are human beings. We cannot forget the terrible tragedy of the Holocaust and the lessons learned. We must always stand up against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate. Never again is now.

Last week, I heard from many people in my riding of Don Valley North, including parents and teachers. They applauded the government for its tough and necessary actions of restricting cellphone usage and banning vaping, along with all tobacco, nicotine and cannabis products in schools. Now, they feel much more confident in our education system.

Speaker, excessive cellphone usage and vaping are two issues that have long plagued students’ physical and mental health and productivity levels. A third of the world’s population is at risk of smart phone addiction, which has negative impacts on a student’s short-term and long-term information retention and overall academic performance. As well, in Canada, one in four older high school students reported vaping in the past month, even though it is clearly illegal for those under age 18.

From zero tolerance and mandatory learning and prevention campaigns to security cameras and vaping detectors, this government is taking concrete action to protect our province’s students so that they may have the greatest chance to succeed, for the sake of their future and ours.

A recent Hamilton Spectator article broke down the homelessness death data published by research group Hamilton Homeless Morality, data that tells a daunting story driven by lived experiences of those living rough in our streets.

Ninety-one deaths in two and a half years is horrific. Half of those deaths were caused by drug overdoses and half suffered from mental illness. If those numbers are not disturbing enough, the story continues: 90% of homeless people who died were men and nearly 50% of these deaths, they had lived on the streets for more than a year. Homelessness is killing Hamiltonians. In fact, the average age of death among homeless Hamiltonians is 46, what some would call mid-life. The numbers do not lie.

This story could have a different ending; an outcome that meets at the intersection of love, hope and support; a story that our communities want to tell and share. Housing impacts people’s lives. It can lengthen their lives and it can save their lives. Many community members, partners and organizations are doing just that. They are tirelessly doing the heavy lifting to provide shelter, stability and health care. Together, we must meet people where they are at. Everyone deserves a place to call home.